Chelsea used a 3-5-2 structure with two high number eights in N’Golo Kanté and Hudson-Odoi. Hakim Ziyech acted as a number 10, often moving away from Christian Pulisic, who stayed high as the main centre-forward... 🧐🧵
In the first half, Hudson-Odoi and Chilwell rotated well, with Ziyech moving over to provide support on the left. Here, he proved more difficult for Juventus to pick up because their midfield line often narrowed to prevent direct access into Ziyech between the lines... 🧐🧵
Ziyech then made more movements out to Chelsea’s right, and the home side found space to attack in the left inside channel, with Rüdiger frequently stepping out of defence to progress around the visitors’ central midfield three... 🧐🧵
With Chelsea constantly breaking into the final third, Rüdiger’s high position almost made him a second pivot alongside Jorginho. Juventus then defended extremely deep, leaving only one player high in the attack... 🧐🧵
Allegri moved Rabiot inside from their out-of-possession midfield four to create a temporary midfield three. This allowed one of the two central midfielders to drop and support the centre-backs during deeper build-up, and also to help combat Chelsea’s higher pressing... 🧐🧵
Bonucci often helped Juventus break into midfield from a central positions. With Rabiot coming in off the left, one of the centre-forwards dropped in to add another player to the midfield unit. As a result, Chelsea were forced back into a mid-block, and Ziyech withdrew... 🧐🧵
A change to 4-2-3-1 ensured a permanent three in the Juventus midfield. However, Chelsea responded by pressing high, with single pivot Jorginho jumping out to press more. Whenever Ziyech pressed aggressively alongside Pulisic, Juve struggled to penetrate centrally... 🧐🧵
Juventus made a string of changes, with Arthur introduced in the double pivot, and Dybala as a number 10 underneath Kean as the centre-forward. Juventus’ full-backs still provided the attacking width, attempting to build around Chelsea’s converted 5-3-2 defensive block... 🧐🧵
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Manchester City’s 4-3-3 started on the front foot as Arsenal initially attempted to press into the host’s half, in a 4-4-2 shape. Arsenal went player-oriented in the wide areas, with Declan Rice and Thomas Partey tracking Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gündogan’s forward runs. However, Silva’s wide runs to City’s right-side created space for Savinho to drive inside, penetrating against the aggressive jumping of Arsenal’s left-back, Calafiori. This helped disrupt and stretch Arsenal’s back line in the early stages, including when Haaland was slid in-behind to calmly open the scoring... 🧐🧵
It wasn’t long before Arsenal formed a low block, while City responded with a 3-1-5-1 shape. Josko Gvardiol moved into a left-side number eight role from full-back, with Gündogan as the central option underneath Haaland. Rodri – soon to be replaced by Kovacic – acted as the single pivot. Still, it was City’s right side that proved most potent, with Silva’s wider positioning supporting Savinho’s direct movements and dribbles against Calafiori... 🧐🧵
Stemming from tweaks to the 4-4-2 formation, and initially most popular in Spain, the 4-2-3-1 grew in popularity from the 2000s onwards. It has since been used with success by many prominent coaches, including Pep Guardiola, Arne Slot and Erik ten Hag... 4️⃣2️⃣3️⃣1️⃣🧵
Central protection...
The 4-2-3-1 requires defensive midfielders who can duel, tackle and intercept in individual battles. These midfielders must be alert enough to land on any second balls. They must have good acceleration and deceleration to help with this... 4️⃣2️⃣3️⃣1️⃣🧵
Spain used a 4-3-3 structure and built play patiently from the back, despite Germany pressing aggressively from their 4-2-3-1. They moved the ball around the back line to isolate Thomas Müller, before a centre-back stepped out with the ball into midfield... 🧐🧵
Olmo continued to move inside and Asensio dropped deep, in the process pulling Süle out of his position in Germany’s back line. This helped Spain to build out from the back and get around Germany’s increasingly effective high press... 🧐🧵
Traditionally, full-backs are the widest players in a back four, and as a result they attack and defend mostly in the wide areas. However, full-backs who move inside into central spaces are known as ‘inverted full-backs’. This movement adds an extra presence centrally... ↩️🧐
Although Pep Guardiola is the coach most associated with the inverted full-back, Johan Cruyff used them with Barcelona many years before. Then, he often converted the 4-3-3 into a 3-4-3 diamond, with one full-back inverting into central midfield... ↩️🧐
Manchester United were set up in a 4-2-3-1 shape, but Fred pushed forward from the double pivot to become a number 8 and give them a stronger attacking presence in central midfield. Bruno Fernandes then adapted his positioning, moving into the left inside channel... 🧐🧵
The hosts eventually pushed both full-backs higher, primarily working around the outside of Tottenham’s wing-backs. United’s wingers then came inside, with the freedom to rotate with Fred and Fernandes, as long as both inside channels were always occupied... 🧐🧵